


Sweet like Tennessee honey

by Cattilyn



Series: these are the days that bind us (together) [2]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Drinking, F/M, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, idk my dudes, minor cameos of other critical role characters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-31
Updated: 2016-10-31
Packaged: 2018-08-28 07:33:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,584
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8436913
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cattilyn/pseuds/Cattilyn
Summary: The room is dark, only illuminated by flashing lights, the loud music is pumping through the speakers and for a moment, she lets herself imagine kissing him, like she has done so many times before. It would be so easy, here in the dark, a crowd of strangers around them. To kiss him just this once. To kiss him like she wants to, has wanted to for so long, not just brushing her lips on his cheek.Prompt: “We’re in costume and I know exactly who you are but pretend I don’t so I have an excuse to make out with you just once.”





	

**Author's Note:**

> i read a fic in a different fandom based on this prompt and suddenly i was writing this ?? IDK ENJOY  
> title from BØRNS – American Money, which i listened to on repeat writing this
> 
> (can we talk about how rude laura's halloween costume was last week? i am still not recovered)  
> ((un-beta'd because i wanted to have it up before halloween ended, but if you spot any mistakes, please let me know !))  
> (((also. as a head's up there's some drunk kissing in this and some guilt afterwards, if you want to avoid that, but i guarentee no one is taken advantage of)))

**Percy** :  
Will you be coming to Keyleth’s party tonight?  


**Me** :  
nah i’m just gonna faceplant in my bed as soon as i get home  
wish kiki happy b-day from me  


**Percy** :  
All right then, I shall.

Vex sighs and pockets her phone. She loves her part time job at the zoo, she really does, but on days like these, it has its disadvantages. It’s the weekend of Halloween and the zoo is doing events for children all day and guided tours after closing, which basically means that Vex gets to wear the witch hat, Scanlan got her years ago, at work and that she constantly has to glance down to avoid tripping on the decorative pumpkins that are literally everywhere.  


And it also means that she misses out on Keyleth’s birthday party.  


After feeding the bears, it’s her turn to help the kids at the craft table, which she normally wouldn’t mind – the children are inquisitive and interested in her job and she loves talking about the animals. But she’s in her senior year of college and this is the last Halloween party their gang will have, before they’ll be spread all over the country. And, well. Percy will be there too.

*** 

**Percy** :  
Are you sure you cannot make it?  


**Me** :  
maybe idk i’ll let u know  


**Percy** :  
Okay :-)

Shaking her head at his choice of emoticon, she is finishing a black mask to go with her witch costume, when she notices a small child staring intensely at her.  


“Hey, what’s up?” she asks, and the girl – who can’t be more than four years old – points at her hat.  


Confused, Vex takes it off, and inspects it and – of course. Her trademark blue feathers haven’t taken kindly to the harsh October wind and they look positively depressing.  


“Oh well,” she sighs and begins to remove the feathers. The girl is still staring, and Vex smiles.  


“Do you want them? They come from a very beautiful bird, despite not being so pretty at the moment.”  


The girl nods solemnly so Vex hands them over.  


“How about we make you a mask to go with them, dear?”  


A couple of hours later, around 11 o’clock, and after her last tour, Vex is ready to pass out on the nearest surface, but they still need to clean up the activity rooms.  


She checks her phone, but the treacherous thing has died and she can’t help but frowning.  


“Hey, Vex!” Zahra, the manager, yells.  


“Yeah?” she answers as she shoves her phone back in her pocket.  


“You had a party tonight, yeah?”  


“I did, but–”  


“No buts, just go! Kash is still around and I’m going to drink every time he trips over a pumpkin. We’ll handle the rest. Go have fun!”  


Vex doesn’t need to be told twice, so she quickly throws her arms around the older woman, and grins.  


“Thanks, Zahra!” she calls, before sprinting to her locker.  


She had packed her lacy black dress, just in case she wasn’t exhausted when she got out, so she changes quickly, and catches the first bus to Keyleth’s house.  


*** 

When Vex arrives the party is already well underway. The music is so loud she can hear it from outside, and there are people everywhere, a mix of classmates and Keyleth’s enormous amount of cousins. Quickly noting that none of her friends are outside, she enters.  


Vex checks herself in the hallway mirror. She looks like she just came from a ten hour shift, but her dress looks nice at least. So she pulls out her braid and lets her messy hair tumble down her back, before crooking her hat and making sure her mask is in place.  


She’s barely made it inside before a voice calls out to her.  


“Oi! Do you want shots?”  


She glances to her right, and sees Scanlan sitting on a make-shift bar. He’s swinging his legs and dressed like a tiny stereotypical French guy. She walks closer and notices that Grog is behind the bar, pouring drinks for what looks like some of Keyleth’s hippie relatives.  


“Sure!” she says and grins, “Hey, have you guys seen Percy?”  


Scanlan narrows his eyes – “Vex?”  


“Yes?” she replies, slightly confused.  


“Oh! I nearly didn’t recognise you! That’s a really good mask.”  


“Thanks, I guess?”  


She shrugs and downs the five shots, which Grog has placed before her.  


“So–” she says, before Scanlan interrupts.  


“Nah, haven’t seen him in a while, but he should be here somewhere. Did you get Pike’s last email? She says she might come home for Christmas–”  


Vex lets him ramble on, until he takes a pause to breathe.  


“I’m gonna find Percy, all right?” she says and gives him a salute as she walks away.  


*** 

Vex has to search for a while, but finally, she spots him in the crowd of people, his white hair standing out like a beacon. He’s dressed as a mad scientist and he looks endearingly dorky. Sometimes she wonders when she began thinking of him, but the sad, embarrassing truth is that she’s liked him ever since they met because he was Vax’s first roommate.  


She stays back until he downs his drink, then walks up and grabs his hand. He looks up, surprised, and she smiles before tugging him out to dance.  


She loves dancing with Percy, mostly because he’s terrible. The first time she’d tried, he’d flat out refused, only to later tell her that he didn’t know how (“We were taught ballroom not – not _this_!”). Eventually he’d come around, and now it’s practically tradition, them dancing without caring about how they look.  


“I’m waiting for a friend, I can’t stay long,” he tells her, before she has a chance to say anything. “But you know Keyleth too?” he asks, and she realises that he hasn’t recognised her.  


Vex nods, not trusting her voice not to give her away. Unsure of why she didn’t just tell him, she glances subtly at him while they dance. The Percy she met in freshman year would never have danced with a stranger and it makes her feel both nostalgic and proud that he’s come this far. But maybe also a little hurt – she thought, well, she thought that dancing was their thing and now he’s dancing – still with her, but he apparently doesn’t realise that.  


The room is dark, only illuminated by flashing lights, the loud music is pumping through the speakers and for a moment, she lets herself imagine kissing him, like she has done so many times before.  


It would be so easy, here in the dark, a crowd of strangers around them. To kiss him just this once. To kiss him like she wants to, has wanted to for so long, not just brushing her lips on his cheek every time he brings her something, he thinks she’d like: new arrows, caramel coffee, teddy bears and interesting zoological text books. She thinks of how he comes to every single of her archery tournaments, even those that Vax misses because they’re held really early Sunday mornings, how he’s become her person in a way nobody else ever has.  


So she kisses him, more than a little desperate, pulls him down to her and captures his lips with hers. _Eyes closed, head first_ , she thinks, feeling the beat of her heart and the pumping of alcohol in her veins simultaneously.  


Percy stiffens and Vex is so sure that she’s fucked everything up forever, before he kisses her back, hard, just for a second or two, before pulling back. He blinks behinds his now slightly crooked glasses, looks at her, and she’s convinced he’s realised it's her, and he shakes his head and her heart is sinking and he opens his mouth–  


“I’m sorry,” he says, and she opens her mouth to argue, because she was the one who kissed him, her best friend without his knowledge, but he continues. “I can’t do this. It’s not right. I’m sure you’re a lovely person, but – there’s someone else.”  


Vex feels herself go cold all over. Percy looks uncomfortable, scratching the back of his head, the way he does when he tries to think of what to say, and she has to act before he says anything else.  


“I’m sorry,” she whispers and bolts, turning around and walking away without looking back.  


The guilt washes over her as she hurries through the crowd, going straight for the front door. She waves to Vax and Keyleth when she passes them, and Vax shoots her a glance, instantly recognising that something is wrong, but she shakes her head. She can’t do this right now. He shrugs and mimes a phone with his hands, mouthing what looks to be “Call me”, the actual words lost to the loud music.  


She slips out of the door, pulling on her jacket while she storms away.

The walk back to campus is short, but Vex is shaking. She can’t tell if it’s because she’s freezing in the cold autumn wind or if it’s from holding back tears. _There’s somebody else_ keeps ringing through her head and the sadness mixed with the guilt aches in her chest.  


She unlocks her door and slumps against it as soon as she is inside. As much as she wants to just lay down and die, she eventually manages to get her legs to work, so she throws her costume at her bedroom floor and brushes her teeth mechanically, before laying down and squeezing her eyes shut, but sleep evades her.  


Eventually – her alarm clock reads past four in the morning – she falls asleep.  


*** 

She doesn’t feel much better the morning after, even though she slept past noon, but she finally charges her phone, before taking a shower, which makes her feel a little more human. When she checks the phone after getting out, she has one new text.

 **Percy** :  
When is your practise tomorrow? I finished my paper early; I can come if you want?  


**Me** :  
im not going

Her fingers hover over the keyboard, but before she can add anything else, his reply chimes in.

 **Percy** :  
Are you okay? Do you need me to come over? I can pick up Chinese?

She feels like a terrible person, but – he’s still the person she wants to see when she’s sad – she might lose him any moment to somebody else, but she can have this. An ordinary Saturday with her best friend. Whom she kissed. Who doesn’t know it was her. Who has _somebody else_. 

**Me** :  
sure ok

He shows up half an hour later, holding a bag from her favourite take away place and Disney’s Brother Bear, because he knows she doesn’t have Netflix, knows that she only has a shitty DVD player, and it’s almost too much.  


Instead of sinking into the floor like she wants to, she lets him in and takes the bag out of his hands, just to have something to do with hers. He's looking at her, curious and a little worried, and she has to force her hands to stop shaking.  


“Did you have a good night yesterday?”  


“What?” she squeaks, and temporarily stops shuffling for plates.  


“At the zoo? Vex, did something happen?”  


The concern in his voice is evident and she pulls herself together.  


“No, I just - I just didn't sleep very well,” she shrugs. “I'm sure it'll pass.”  


“All right,” he replies, but she can tell he isn't quite ready to let go, and suddenly she's wondering if he'll mention kissing someone the night before.  


“Do you need me to do anything?”  


“Er, I'm a little cold; could you grab a blanket or something? I think it's in my bedroom.”  


It's a shitty excuse, but she can't do this. Knowing that she kissed him, while knowing that he likes someone else is a special brand of torture. She just needs to get this visit over with and then she can begin avoiding him until it stops hurting. Which, with her luck, won't be anytime in the next ten years. The worst part is that she was so sure that she'd read him right, only for it to turn out that she couldn't have been more wrong.  


The silence stretches and Percy really should have found a blanket by now.  


The second before she reaches her bedroom door, she realises that her costume probably still lays on her floor, unmissable.  


_Oh gods_ , she thinks and braces herself as she pushes the door open.  


He's standing with the blanket in his hands, staring calculating on the hat, the mask and the dress, she'd carelessly discarded on the floor next to her bed.  


He startles when she enters and Vex hates herself.  


“I guess the cat's out of the bag,” Vex tries to joke, but her voice is shaking.  


“Vex..?” he trails off, glancing from the pile to her and back again, and she can see the gears turn in his head. So she supposes she might as well ruin them now rather than later.  


“It was me, last night. It was me, okay? _I_ kissed you and I'm sorry.”  


He looks at her, scrutinising, and for once, Vex can’t read him at all.  


“You didn’t wear your feathers.”  


“What?”  


“Your feathers. I was looking for them.”  


“I’m sorry, darling, you’ve completely lost me,” she says and tries her very best not to burst into tears.  


He drops the blanket and steps closer to her – almost as close as they were last night on the dance floor, a treacherous part of her brain can’t help noticing – and he takes her hand.  


“I was waiting for you. Or, I was waiting to hear if you were coming or not, you said you’d text and – I was going to leave if you weren’t coming. I only,” he takes a deep breath and runs his other hand through his hair, messing it up even more than usual. “I only wanted to see you. And I thought – I thought I would tell you that night.”  


Vex feels as if her heart stopped and suddenly it’s beating wildly again, but her throat is closing up, so she squeezes Percy’s hand while he continues.  


“And then I kept drinking, because I’m a fucking coward and this girl showed up, and she reminded me so much of you, and I thought, _maybe this is the closest I’ll ever get_ , so I danced with her, but I was looking for you. And it turned out you were right in front of me and I didn’t even notice.”  


“Percy,” she says, looking up at him. “What were you going to tell me?”  


He looks away and actually blushes and she desperately wants to kiss him again, but she keeps herself grounded. She needs to hear this.  


“I’m in love with you,” he breathes, with no hesitation, and he catches her eyes, his piercingly blue eye regarding her fondly.  


“Oh,” she says and he’s smiling at her, like she’s never seen him smile before – or maybe she has, out of the corner of her eyes, when he thought she wasn’t looking – and it strikes her that this is real, not just another daydream and–  


“Vex?” he asks, sounding amused.  


“Yes?” she replies, before realising what he means. She’s pretty sure her face is flushed but she doesn’t care, not at all.  


“I love you too,” she says and finally, _finally_ , he kisses her, like he’s been waiting for this as long as she has.  


The kiss yesterday was good but this – this is brilliant.

**Author's Note:**

> Vex's favourite Disney film being Brother Bear is a headcanon you couldn't even pry out of my cold dead hands.
> 
> find me on tumblr @ smallvoids - come and say hi !


End file.
